Cherry
by skullgirllove
Summary: A serise of one shots that occur after the movie ends. Enjoy! R&R please.


Claire Standish tapped her brown leather clad shoe impatiently. Where was he? He had promise he would be here. Not that John was great with time but she was cutting class for this! She could not get yet another detention.

She doubted she would get in any trouble this time though. She was a particular favorite of her English teacher, Mr. Becker's and she had no doubt he would simply look the other way. Plus it would help next time she met with him to discuss her paper to flash a little bit of cleavage. She smirked at how John would react if he knew that but what he didn't know didn't hurt him.

Suddenly Claire's train of thought was cut of at the sight of a boy about her age slumping towards her down the street. His head was down and he dragged one of his feet behind him as though it were injured. Claire gasped as she realized the boy was John.

"Claire…" he muttered, as he got closer to her. He was bleeding heavily from a cut on his mouth and his left eye was beginning to swell.

"Oh my god." Claire whispered, running to him, her red curls flying behind her. With a groan he all but collapsed in her arms. Horror washed over Claire. She had seen him after his dad beat him up before but never like this.

"We need to get you to a doctor!" She said frantically.

"No!" John said forcefully, spitting out blood. "You can help me. Just don't take me…there. Please." Claire hesitated for a minuet then finally sighed and rose to her feet, supporting John on her shoulder.

"We can go to my house." She said as they slowly made their way down the street. "My parents aren't home."

"School…" John pointed out, although it was obviously painful for him to do so. Claire shook her head.

"Screw it." John somehow managed his trademark smirk.

"Cutting school Claire-bear?" he asked. "Looks like I'm a bad influence on you. What would daddy say? Ow!" He cried out as Claire purposefully slammed his foot into the curb.

"Good to know he didn't injure your sense of humor." She said sarcastically, moving slowly down the road.

"A few other things may have survived but I don't know, you might wanna check."

"Do you want me to drop you?"

"You know what the ground looks fine when it's not racing towards me at a hundred miles per hour. Lead the way Miss. Standish."

XXXX

Slam! With a yell John fell back into the bookcase, knocking books and other knick-knacks everywhere.

"What did you say to me?" An older man with stubble on his chin and a mean look in his eye demanded.

"I said you're a joke of a father and I hope you rot in hell!" John chocked out, clutching his side. Slam! With another powerful blow he was knocked back onto the floor. He groaned and touched his lip gingerly. When he looked there was blood on his fingers.

"Who made you the fucking king huh?" John's father demanded, standing over his son menacingly. "That new little piece of ass you've got is making you bold."

"Don't you dare talk about her like that!" John hissed, rising to his feet. "Her name is Claire and I love her." His father snorted with laughter.

"Love!" he guffawed. "What would a no good little fuck like you know about love?"

"Nothing I ever learned from you, that's for sure." John said venomously. The older man's face fell into its usual scowl. Slam! Slam! An upper cut jerked John up from the floor and another slammed him into the wall.

"You think you can talk that way to me in my house?" The older man raved, hitting John over and over. "Anything else you wanna say to me you little shit?" John stood powerless against the wall, trying desperately to avoid the blows raining down on him.

"Fuck you." He said so quietly he dad barely heard. The older man paused for a minuet.

"What did you say boy?" He asked. John lifted his head, defiance shining in his brown eyes.

"I said fuck you!" He said louder, staring his father right in the eye. Slam!

XXXX

"Ow!" John exclaimed. "Watch it Cherry that hurt!"

"It'll hurt a lot more if you keep calling me Cherry." Claire said, wrapping the last bandage around John's arm. John groaned after she tied it extra tight.

"See the simple solution is to not be a cherry." He said, raising his eyebrows suggestively. Claire hit him with a pillow, a smile dancing on her lips.

"Pig." She laughed.

"Hey don't hit a man when he's down sweets." John yelped, trying to fend himself off against the blows. Claire grew serious for a second, lightly running a manicured finger over John's bandaged arm.

"I'm sorry about this." She said. "All of it."

"Well, a few thoughts spring to mind as to how you could repay me." Claire rolled her eyes.

"Not when you're looking like that." She said, gesturing at John's cut lip and swollen eye. The brown haired boy sighed and slumped back into the pillows of the couch.

"I knew you only liked me for my looks." He said, fake pouting.

"No it was for your money." Claire joked, and kissed him sweetly on the lips.

XXXX

"Thanks for letting me crash here." John said, stepping into Allison's house.

"They don't give a shit anyway." The dark haired girl said, gesturing upstairs at her parent's room. "Half the time I think they don't even realize I'm here."

"Beats the alternative." John said darkly, collapsing on Allison's stained sofa. "Sporto around?" Allison shot him a look but didn't remind him that her boyfriend's name was Andrew.

"He's picking up Brian. Claire just called, said she'd be around in a few."

"Is Andy staying the night by any chance?" Allison rolled her eyes.

"Is sex the only thing you ever think about?"

"When I'm not thinking about drugs yeah."

"Lucky Claire."

"Incorrecto actually. She's like an unlucky charm if you catch my drift."

"Ugh, stop!" Allison said, putting her hands over her ears. "I hear enough about your relationship from Claire."

"Oh really?"

"All the groddy details."

"And, uh, what exactly does she say about me?"

"Not a chance burnout." Allison smirked, answering the door. "Ask her yourself."

XXXX

"So are you coming to school tomorrow?" Andy asked as he headed out the door. John shrugged.

"Who knows man." He said. "Will you miss me?"

"Well you're not sleeping on my couch for the rest of eternity that's for sure." Allison said before being pulled into a goodnight kiss by Andrew.

"You can crash on mine." Brian said. John raised an eyebrow.

"Thanks for the offer but I don't think that would go over to well with Mr. an Mrs. Rodgers." This was not far from the truth actually. If Brian's mother so much as looked at John she would start screaming and hitting him with a bible or something.

"Trying to be helpful is all." Brian mumbled, also heading out the door. Claire and John stood looking at each other.

"Try not to make Allison to crazy." The red head said with a smile. "We're supposed to have a sleep over this weekend and I want her sane for it."

"I love you." Said John suddenly. Claire gaped in surprise. She scanned his face for any signs of his usual cocky self but for once he was serious.

"I'd like an explanation." John blinked. That had caught him off guard.

"Geeze Claire how am I supposed to explain it?" He said, kicking the carpet. "In case you missed it this is kinda hard for a guy to sa-."

"-Of why you're not kissing me. You dumbass." Claire finished. "Can a lady finish a sentence around here?" John smirked at her.

"It's not nice to do that to a guy Cherry." He said, moving closer to her so that their faces were almost touching.

"I said I would hurt you if you called me that again." Claire smiled.

"Go right ahead." John mumbled, kissing her passionately on the mouth.


End file.
